New album Foregone out February 2023

[DE4life]

Just ask Jester Slave. He's always happy and willing to discuss the issue.

where is that crazy fuck anyway? I figured he'd be around trying to claim that THE sucks and not even better than Battles, or some other nonsense to try and discredit Jesper.

Anyway, the Anders/Jesper beef is fairly well documented at this point. It exploded in particular when Anders did an interview where he basically said the songwriting process hadn't been impacted by Jesper leaving and that instead of Anders/Bjorn/Jesper writing it was just Anders/Bjorn now. It was also suggested that Jesper was the cause of 'compromises' needing to be made and things were smoother without him there. Jesper was pretty offended by Anders suggesting the songwriting process was "the same, or even better" without him, and hit back by saying Anders was never a songwriter and he also came out with the infamous "polishing the turd" line in relation to Anders vocals. Jesper has had a couple of pops here and there, mainly diected at Anders, on FB before quickly deleting those comments. Bjorn and Peter have always been quick to defend Jesper and say he doesn't mean what he says.

For what it's worth Anders has always been diplomatic in regards to Jesper, but did mention in an interview in 2015 that Jesper was "in contact on and off with the other guys", suggesting Jesper wasn't contacting him at all. Who knows what their relationship is like nowadays. My guess is still fairly distant, but I don't think there's any major animosity there anymore.

 

[TheJestersDoor]

Managed to come across the de-listed YouTube video for State of Slow Decay on In Flames's YouTube channel - of course I couldn't view it, but I think we can safely say that it's coming tomorrow. Don't think it's a music video, just an audio track. I assume well get a music video at a later date. Maybe they filmed themselves playing it at Sweden Rock to make a music video out of that footage.

 

[DE4life]

Keep an eye on the Australian spotfy, if it's coming out on there it normally drops earlier due to their Monday coming a lot earlier than ours!

 

[eochaid]

What's interesting is that, these days, we never see pictures of the former members with the remaining ones. Not even that. As far as I remember, current IF members never mention their ex bandmates.

I've seen Jesper mentioning how he went to a show like three years ago. Peter and Daniel were past Friday watching IF. But there doesn't seem to be any interest coming from Anders and Bjorn towards their exs. At least, not in the official band account.

Not even a word when the band was announced or the singles were released. I compare that to Peter giving words of encouragement when IF announced that they were going to start the recording of the new album.

I also wonder if Peter and Bjorn were still partners in the restaurant before it's closing due to COVID. I did not see any picture of them both together since a long time ago.

 

[Ilias7]

I've changed my vpn to New Zealand and I am listening to it right now. There are a lot more going on riff-wise than what we could hear in the live performance. Anders does super cool low growls on the pre-chorus and sings clean the chorus, which is not as bad as I was afraid because of Benson being involved. The song structure is different, I like how the verse intensifies before going to the pre-chorus. The solo is placed well, because it gives a melodic break after constant riffing, but it feels generic once again. The drums are amazing. Songwriting credits are given to Anders, Bjorn and Benson.

 

[galvanized]

I've changed my vpn to New Zealand and I am listening to it right now. There are a lot more going on riff-wise than what we could hear in the live performance. Anders does super cool low growls on the pre-chorus and sings clean the chorus, which is not as bad as I was afraid because of Benson being involved. The song structure is different, I like how the verse intensifies before going to the pre-chorus. The solo is placed well, because it gives a melodic break after constant riffing, but it feels generic once again. The drums are amazing. Songwriting credits are given to Anders, Bjorn and Benson.

How would you compare production, mixing, guitar tone to Mask and Battles?

 

[DE4life]

I've changed my vpn to New Zealand and I am listening to it right now. There are a lot more going on riff-wise than what we could hear in the live performance. Anders does super cool low growls on the pre-chorus and sings clean the chorus, which is not as bad as I was afraid because of Benson being involved. The song structure is different, I like how the verse intensifies before going to the pre-chorus. The solo is placed well, because it gives a melodic break after constant riffing, but it feels generic once again. The drums are amazing. Songwriting credits are given to Anders, Bjorn and Benson.

I'd forgotten about New Zealand, switching over and listening now...

First impression, sounds totally different to Battles & I, the Mask. There's no song on either album that even sounds remotely similar.

It's like a weird mixture of Enter Tragedy, Blinded By Fear and Everything's Gone. Bjorn Generic Solo #503 makes an appearance, with plenty of wah. Chorus only appears twice and is the only time there are clean vocals. Cleans are closer to what we heard on SOAPF/SC compared to Battles/ITM though, which is an improvement. Drumming is better than anything since Daniel left - good job, Tanner.

This isn't bad. I'd give it a 7/10. Points docked for the parts that remind me of Everything's Gone (the "evil riffs" that A88 mentioned), the generic solo and the fact that the main driving riff is a bit too similar to Blinded By Fear. Enough that anyone who's heard and likes that song will instantly think of it.

 

[TheJestersDoor]

I'd forgotten about New Zealand, switching over and listening now...

First impression, sounds totally different to Battles & I, the Mask. There's no song on either album that even sounds remotely similar.

It's like a weird mixture of Enter Tragedy, Blinded By Fear and Everything's Gone. Bjorn Generic Solo #503 makes an appearance, with plenty of wah. Chorus only appears twice and is the only time there are clean vocals. Cleans are closer to what we heard on SOAPF/SC compared to Battles/ITM though, which is an improvement. Drumming is better than anything since Daniel left - good job, Tanner.

This isn't bad. I'd give it a 7/10. Points docked for the parts that remind me of Everything's Gone (the "evil riffs" that A88 mentioned), the generic solo and the fact that the main driving riff is a bit too similar to Blinded By Fear. Enough that anyone who's heard and likes that song will instantly think of it.

What's the guitar tone like? How's the mix, vocals pushed? Is the solo obnoxiously loud like on Battles? I don't have a VPN so I have to wait

 

[Cobra8472]

Are you guys just VPNing to NZ and using the Spotify app? Doing the same here doesn't show it at all.

 

[DE4life]

What's the guitar tone like? How's the mix, vocals pushed? Is the solo obnoxiously loud like on Battles? I don't have a VPN so I have to wait

Guitar tone is OK. Different to the previous albums, a bit sharper. Heavier parts sound reminiscent of Everything's Gone on SC. The mix is solid enough imo - sounds like proper metal production. Nothing strange like volume fluctuations or parts sounding like they've been stitched together. Vocals are mixed well, no issues there. Anders sounds good, to me at least. Similiar to how he sounded on that Night Fiends song that Tanner released with Andurz on vocals.

Are you guys just VPNing to NZ and using the Spotify app? Doing the same here doesn't show it at all.

VPN to NZ and use the below YouTube link, should work.

 

[galvanized]

Heavier parts sound reminiscent of Everything's Gone on SC.

Dude the number of times you mention Everything’s Gone is starting to scare me big time.

 

[DE4life]

Listening to this a few times now, I actually quite like it. If I was to compare to anything from ITM it'd be I Am Above, but without the over-autotuned vocals in the chorus.

 

[DE4life]

Dude the number of times you mention Everything’s Gone is starting to scare me big time.

Haha, it's just certain parts of the song have that downtuned, 'evil riff' style. It's not a big deal. This doesn't sound like Everything's Gone as a whole - it's a lot better.

 

[Ilias7]

I like the guitar tone. Production is better than Mask or Battles and the vocals are mixed fine. I feel like the solo is a bit too loud.

If I was to compare to anything from ITM it'd be I Am Above, but without the over-autotuned vocals in the chorus.

My thoughts exactly.

I really like the song. The only thing that is bothering me is the generic solo. The lyrics are good as far as I can tell: "Faith alone won't sustain, we're in a state of slow decay"

 

[Cobra8472]

Guitar tone is OK. Different to the previous albums, a bit sharper. Heavier parts sound reminiscent of Everything's Gone on SC. The mix is solid enough imo - sounds like proper metal production. Nothing strange like volume fluctuations or parts sounding like they've been stitched together. Vocals are mixed well, no issues there. Anders sounds good, to me at least. Similiar to how he sounded on that Night Fiends song that Tanner released with Andurz on vocals.



VPN to NZ and use the below YouTube link, should work.

Thanks!


Really enjoy it as well. I'll echo @Ilias7 - the solo is quite generic and the song would really be served well by a couple of melodic, harmonized guitar melodies, even if brief, as the song lacks the "In Flames feel".

 

[eochaid]

Sound is good. I definitely see the ATG thing here. What was the name of the band again? They have lost every trace of their personality. This song is just an American band that has discovered ATG and wanted to make something similar.

The chorus is lame. The solo is shit. If that's the best that Bjorn can come with then he should stop asap playing solos.

I give this a 5/10 because is a Heavy track and that's all.

 

[eochaid]

The videoclip has been released.



If this is not a rip off then I don't know what it is.

 

[galvanized]

Thanks for the link! I listened. The solo is too short but at least it’s dual lead harmonized which makes it sound aesthetically decent at least. Even if it doesn’t cover any new ground, at least it doesn’t sound terrible (like Siren Charms solos).

The “evil” parts actually sound pretty cool. There are some layered synths on those parts and in the chorus as well. In the live recordings it was hard to pick those out.

Overall it comes across as a real metal song, although the chorus has more cleans than the live version and doesn’t really fit standard metal.

Production seems decent. Sounds good on my phone’s speaker lol.

 

[galvanized]

The videoclip has been released.



If this is not a rip off then I don't know what it is.

Blinded by Fear is one of my favorites so not too much heartburn from me. Like the other post said, if IF is going to rip off bands, I would rather they rip off ATG than The Offspring or Sum41 like they did for Battles. If they are listening to ATG now, maybe for the next album they sit around and listen to Emperor and Iron Maiden and we could get some classic IF riffs again.

I haven’t compared the song structures yet. Besides the riff did they rip off the solo location? That would be interesting.

 

[eochaid]

I would prefer them to rip off In Flames. It's almost as if they don't know anymore how to sound like themselves so they're trying to be other bands.